Heat pipes have been used in connection with the heating and cooling of various structures. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,388 illustrates the use of heat pipes in a regenerator to exchange heat between intake air as it flows into an enclosure and exhaust air as it flows out of the enclosure. For this purpose a plurality of sealed heat tubes are disposed in generally parallel relationship, one end being disposed in heat exchange relationship with the intake air and the other being exposed to the exhaust air. The patent illustrates generally, heat tubes of the type which may be employed with the present invention. Suitable heat pipes are also illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,753,364. Heat tubes useful in connection with the present invention may be constructed with or without wicking members and if as illustrated herein, those without wicking members are employed, it is preferred that the horizontal array of heat tubes be tilted slightly toward one end.
An important object of the invention is to provide an improved heat exchange apparatus employing an array of heat tubes all of which have connection with a manifold element so that the array and the manifold are in heat transfer relation.
Another important object of the invention is to provide a heat exchange apparatus which may be especially useful in connection with heating flowing water by means of solar heated air as may be provided by a solar collector so that the air passes through the heat exchange apparatus to transfer heat from the air to the flowing water.